PSC-19-16-00010-P Technical Amendments of State Regulations
5/11/16 N.Y. St. Reg. PSC-19-16-00010-P
NEW YORK STATE REGISTER
VOLUME XXXVIII, ISSUE 19
May 11, 2016
RULE MAKING ACTIVITIES
PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION
PROPOSED RULE MAKING
NO HEARING(S) SCHEDULED
I.D No. PSC-19-16-00010-P
Technical Amendments of State Regulations
PURSUANT TO THE PROVISIONS OF THE State Administrative Procedure Act, NOTICE is hereby given of the following proposed rule:
Proposed Action:
This is a consensus rule making to amend Parts 255, 258, 259 and 262 of Title 16 NYCRR.
Statutory authority:
Public Service Law, sections 65 and 66
Subject:
Technical Amendments of State regulations.
Purpose:
To align State regulations with their corollary Federal regulations.
Substance of proposed rule:
This rule is being proposed to bring sections of Title 16 NYCRR related to pipeline safety into conformance with the minimum Federal regulations related to pipeline safety. Additional minor clarifications and technical edits are being made. The proposed changes to Title 16 NYCRR Part 10, Referenced Material, would bring incorporated-by-reference materials up-to-date with editions of industry consensus standards incorporated by reference in the Federal Regulations contained in Title 49, Code of Federal Regulations, Parts 192, Transportation of Natural Gas (49 CFR Part 192), 193, Liquefied Natural Gas (49 CFR Part 193), and 195, Transportation of Hazardous Liquids by Pipeline (49CFR Part 195). The proposed changes to Title 16NYCRR Parts 255, Transmission and Distribution of Gas (Part 255), 258, Transportation of Liquid Petroleum (Part 258), and 259, Liquefied Natural Gas (Part 259), are intended to bring those parts into conformance with recent amendments to 49 CFR Part 192, 49 CFR Part 195, and 49 CFR Part 193, respectively. A comprehensive comparison of Parts 255 and 258 against the Federal regulations found that some sections are less stringent that the minimum Federal safety standard. Some of the proposed changes are intended to correct this in order to bring Title 16 NYCRR regulations into conformance with Federal regulations. Two minor clarifications are being made involving the alphabetical reorganization of the definition section (§ 255.3 and § 258.3) and relocating the conversion of service rule from § 255.559 to § 255.14 to better align Part 255 with the number scheme of 49 CFR Part 192. Updating and streamlining filings to “Department” are being added within Parts 258 and 259 in recognition of the current Department of Public Service Staff organization and to be consistent with a similar change to Part 255. Clarification was needed to specify that while a three-year retention period is the standard, when inspection or other compliance cycles are longer than three years, the retention period for all relevant documents must coincide with those cycles. Finally, technical corrections are being made to Parts 258 and 262 to correct a regulatory link to sections that have been relocated.
Text of proposed rule and any required statements and analyses may be obtained by filing a Document Request Form (F-96) located on our website http://www.dps.state.ny.us/f96dir.htm. For questions, contact:
John Pitucci, Public Service Commission, 3 Empire State Plaza, Albany, New York 12223-1350, (518) 486-2655, email: John.Pitucci@dps.ny.gov
Data, views or arguments may be submitted to:
Kathleen H. Burgess, Secretary, Public Service Commission, 3 Empire State Plaza, Albany, New York 12223-1350, (518) 474-6530, email: secretary@dps.ny.gov
Public comment will be received until:
45 days after publication of this notice.
Consensus Rule Making Determination
This rule is being proposed as a consensus rule because, in accordance with State Administrative Procedure Act § 102(11)(b) and (c), it implements or conforms to non-discretionary provisions and makes technical changes or is otherwise non-controversial. The proposed changes to Title 16 NYCRR Part 10, Referenced Material, would bring incorporated-by-reference materials up-to-date with editions of industry consensus standards incorporated by reference in the Federal Regulations contained in Title 49, Code of Federal Regulations, Parts 192, Transportation of Natural Gas (49 CFR Part 192), 193, Liquefied Natural Gas (49 CFR Part 193), and 195, Transportation of Hazardous Liquids by Pipeline (49CFR Part 195). The proposed changes to Title 16NYCRR Parts 255, Transmission and Distribution of Gas (Part 255), 258, Transportation of Liquid Petroleum (Part 258), and 259, Liquefied Natural Gas (Part 259), are intended to bring those parts into conformance with recent amendments to 49 CFR Part 192, 49 CFR Part 195, and 49 CFR Part 193, respectively. A comprehensive comparison of the provisions in Parts 255 and 258 against the Federal regulations found that some sections are less stringent that the minimum Federal safety standards. Some of the proposed changes are intended to correct this in order to bring Title 16 NYCRR regulations into conformance with Federal regulations. Additionally, minor clarifications and technical edits are being made. Two such clarifications involve the alphabetical reorganization of the definition section (§ 255.3 and § 258.3) and relocating the conversion of service rule from § 255.559 to § 255.14 to better align Part 255 with the number scheme of 49 CFR Part 192. Updating and streamlining filings to “Department” are being added within Parts 258 and 259 in recognition of the current Department of Public Service Staff organization and to be consistent with similar changes to Part 255. Clarification was needed to specify that while a three-year retention period is the standard requirement, when inspection or other compliance cycles are longer than three years, the retention period for all relevant documents must coincide with those cycles. Finally, technical corrections are being made to Parts 258 and 262 to correct a regulatory link to sections that have been relocated. The proposed consensus rulemaking would conform the Public Service Commission’s regulations to the federal regulations with which operators of gas distribution pipelines, small LPG systems, Liquefied Natural Gas plant and Hazardous Liquid pipeline must currently comply. Staff has discussed these proposed revisions with various stakeholders. Based on communications with stakeholders, no person is likely to object to the adoption of the proposed rule as written. In accordance with the provisions of the State Administrative Procedure Act (SAPA) § 202(1)(b)2(i), this therefore, should be considered a consensus rulemaking.
Job Impact Statement
The Department of Public Service (DPS) projects that there will be no adverse impact on jobs or employment opportunities in the State of New York (State) as a result of this proposed rule change. This proposed rule change will bring Part 10 incorporated by reference materials up to date with standards incorporated by reference in the Federal Regulations contained in Title 49, Code of Federal Regulations, Parts 192, Transportation of Natural Gas (49 CFR Part 192), 193, Liquefied Natural Gas (49 CFR Part 193), and 195, Transportation of Hazardous Liquids by Pipeline (49CFR Part 195). The proposed changes to Title 16 NYCRR Parts 255, Transmission and Distribution of Gas (Part 255), 258, Transportation of Liquid Petroleum (Part 258), and 259, Liquefied Natural Gas (Part 259), are intended to bring those parts into conformance with recent amendments to 49 CFR Part 192, 49 CFR Part 195, and 49 CFR Part 193, respectively. Additionally, minor clarification and technical edits to Parts 255, 258, 259 and 262 are being proposed. Nothing in this proposed rule change will create any adverse impacts on jobs or employment opportunities in the State. No further steps were needed to ascertain these facts and none were taken. As apparent from the nature and purpose of this proposed rule change, a full Job Impact Statement is not required and therefore one has not been prepared.
